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A Modest Proposal For A Proper Shutdown

America deserves a strong leader during the government shutdown, not one who merely allows us to stumble along, doing whatever we want in the middle of the greatest crisis of all time. President Obama should take the threat to his credibility seriously, and not allow Americans to lose sight of the central role of government in their lives.

While the administration wisely issued orders to make things as painful as possible for these rebellious Americans, its efforts have been largely passive. The authorities have failed to deploy water cannons or erect permanent barriers around national monuments. The public may sense weakness.

In many of our nation's cities, for instance, there is no curfew. In others, the curfew is only for the underage. The public may sense weakness, and sensing weakness, begin to assert its rights. We can't have that now can we?

Older people are frequently allowed to wander the streets after dark, visiting each other's homes, even patronizing businesses. Allowing the use of public resources in this manner during a government shutdown sends the wrong message.

A president reelected telling us "You didn't build that!" should not now be allowing us to use the infrastructure someone else built. We might get the idea that a government of a smaller size would be enough to secure our capitulation.

The Interstate Highway system, despite being a federal government idea, remains open. Often used in interstate commerce, the system's primary use is, of course, to transport people to spots from which they can view federal property. Leaving these criminal networks open is a sign of weakness no wise ruler would allow.

The administration made only a half-hearted attempt at closing the world's oceans, many of which contain federally regulated water runoff. Ungrateful boat owners continue to use these and other navigable waters, which may even provide them with viewing access to natural beauty, or worse, to federal property.

There’s a show from the 1980s called ALF about an alien that ends up having to live with a family after accidentally crashing into their garage. In one episode, he runs up a major gambling tab and to pay it off raises the prices on items at the family’s garage sale without their knowledge to get the money needed to pay off his debts.

In a recent subcommittee hearing with appropriations committee, Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the CDC, testified to several representatives regarding the budgetary affairs of the CDC. Throughout the hearing, Dr. Frieden talked at length about the various projects the CDC had been involved with recently, particularly regarding the Zika and Ebola viruses.

Reasserting lost Congressional authority has been a major theme this year, with the creation of the Article I Project and a House task force on executive overreach. Many legislators have taken charge in curbing the waste and latency plaguing the federal government, and Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA-5) is the latest to join the fight for such accountability.

We’re just days away from the expiration of funding for the federal government running dry, and that event that is spoken about only in hushed tones of dread by the Washington establishment: a government shutdown. For those who regard the federal government as the provider of all that is good and noble in the world, whose Life-of-Julia worldviews require state intervention in all activities great and small, this represents an unthinkable tragedy. The rest of us tend not to really notice, except when the Feds go out of their way to prevent World War II veterans from visiting their own, open air memorial.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is coming under some scrutiny from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The two Kentucky Republicans recently introduced the Federal Prisons Accountability Act, S. 1784, which would require the president to appoint the director of the agency and subject the nominee to Senate confirmation under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.

The House is getting set to pass the 21st Century Cures Act (H.R. 6). The bill has good intentions. It is trying to do great things by reforming the patent process to streamline the research and production of drugs - getting them to patients faster, which will save lives. Unfortunately, the bill also creates a new spending program with some dubious offsets that make the overall bill difficult for conservatives to support.

President Obama released his latest budget, a plan that would spend $4 trillion next year and $50 trillion over the next decade. The plan is packed with goodies from free community college to free preschool to increased infrastructure spending. The budget blows past the spending caps that Obama signed into law in 2011.